St Nazaire Raid Memorial, Falmouth

The St Nazaire Raid (Operation Chariot) was the British amphibious attack on the Normandie dry dock at St Nazaire in German-occupied France on 28 March 1942.

The Royal Navy and British Commandos attacked St Nazaire because the loss of its dry dock would force large German warships like the Tirpitz, to return to Germany rather than docking on the French Atlantic coast.

The old WW1 American lend-lease destroyer HMS Campbeltown, accompanied by 18 smaller craft, crossed the Channel and rammed into the Normandie dock gates. The ship had been packed with delayed-action explosives that detonated later that day, putting the dock out of service for the remainder of the War. Commandos landed to destroy machinery and other structures. German gunfire sank the boats intended to take the commandos back to England; so they had to try and fight their way out through the town. Most were forced to surrender when their ammunition was exhausted.

After the raid only 228 men returned to Britain.

This photograph is of the memorial to the Raid at Falmouth Harbour from where the force set off. The stone reads:

OPERATION CHARIOT
FROM THIS HARBOUR 622 SAILORS
AND COMMANDOS SET SAIL FOR
THE SUCCESSFUL RAID ON ST. NAZAIRE
28th MARCH 1942? 168 WERE KILLED
5 VICTORIA CROSSES WERE AWARDED
???? · ????
DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF
THEIR COMRADES BY
THE ST. NAZAIRE SOCIETY

In the background to this rather jumbled photo I have tried to include the dock where the news of Trafalgar was first brought back to Britain, and even further back is Pendennis Castle which was held by the Royalists in 1646 at the end of the Civil War.